Food slicer



K. ZYSSET FOOD SLICER July so, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 25,1959 K. ZYSSET FOOD SLICER July 30, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept.25, 1959 K. ZYSSET FOOD SLICER July 30, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 FiledSept. 25, 1959 Y [AWE/V70? 41m. ,ZYS'SET United States Patent 3,099,305FOOD SLICER Karl Zysset, Hauptstrasse 31, Lyss, Switzerland Filed Sept.25, 1959, Ser. No. 842,510 Claims priority, application Switzerland Oct.1, 1958 3 Claims. (Cl. 146-103) My present invention relates toimprovements in household food slicers.

Various such slicers are known, of which the cutting disk is rotated bypower means, in most cases power means also being provided for stepwisefeeding the objects or goods to be cut. Such known machines are rathelexpensive and are practically used only in retail shops and large-sizekitchens of restaurants and the like.

An object of the present invention is to improve a slicer of known typein which a manually operable swing arm is pivoted to a supporting frame,and a cutting disk is journaled to said arm, and in which a driveconnection is normally provided between said disk and said frame forrotating said disk about its own axis when actuating said arm, a gaugeplate or abutment plate being movably mounted on said frame to positionthe goods to be sliced.

it is also an object of the invention to mount the gauge plate orabutment plate on the stationary supporting frame on the same axis asthe swing arm, and to make the plate adjustable in the direction of saidaxis to which its abutment face stands at right angles.

One form of the invention is shown, by way of example, in the drawings,in which- FIG. 1 is an elevation,

FIG. 2 is a top plan view, and

FIGS. 3 and 4 are cross-sections on the lines II IIII and IV-IVrespectively of FIG. 1.

The slicer shown comprises a supporting frame 1 suitably die-cast ofplastic, which for reinforcement has partitions 1a and which is providedwith rubber legs 40. In its intermediate portion, frame 1 has a raisedsaddle with a horizontal platform 2 which is parallel to the frame base.A vertical web 3 extends from that edge of said saddle which in FIG. 1is situated on the left, across the entire width of the frame, andserves for guiding the object 4 to be sliced, which in FIGS. 1 and 2 isindicated by dash-and-dot lines. The platform 2 and the guiding faceformed on web 3 are parallel to the axis 5 (FIG. 1) of a hollowcylindrical frame portion =1b (FIG. 3) which at one end is stepwiseenlarged. At its front side, frame 1 has a projecting tail on the leftend (FIGS. 1 and 2,) for widening its base. The major portion of thefront wall or end face 1a respectively of the supporting frame extendsat right angles to platform 2, web 3 and axis 5.

In the hollow cylindrical frame portion 1b is fitted a thin-walledmetallic bushing 9 in which is rotatably mounted a hollow shaft 6 (FIG.3) made of brass for example. On that end of shaft 6 which projects fromthe front of the supporting frame, is fixed the portion 7a of a swingarm 7 which is adjacent to the frame. The rear end of the hollow shaft 6is provided with an exterior annular groove in which is inserted aspring ring 8 which abuts against the rear end of bushing 9 and therebyprevents shaft 6 from moving forwardly.

A pinion 12 is rotatably mounted on swing arm 7 by means of a pivot orpin 10 which has a head 10a and is secured in place by a nut 11 screwedthereon. To pinion '12 is secured a coaxial cutting disk 13 by means ofcountersunk rivets 41, and the cutting edge 14 of said disk is formed asshown in FIG. 1. Disk 13 is slidably supported on a plurality of studs15 inserted in swing arm 7. The latter covers the greater part of thecutting disk 13, and at the point where the cut-off slices are strippedit has on the front side a recessed frustro-conical face 16.

In the hollow shaft 6 is mounted rotatable and axially movable thethicker portion 17a of a solid shaft or pin 17. To that end of portion17a which projects from hollow shaft 6, is fixed the hub-shaped portion18a of a stop, abutment or gauge plate 18. The entire rear face 19 (FIG.2) of gauge plate 18 facing frame '1, stands at right angles to thecommon axis of rotation 5 of swing arm 7 and of stop plate 18 and servesas abutment face for the object '4 to be cut in slices. The thickness ofthe slices cut is controlled by the spacing between said face 19 and theplane of the knife edge 14 of cutting disk '13. To make possible theadjustment of this spacing which is readable from a scale 45 provided onswing arm 7, so as to vary the thickness of the slices cut, a nut 20 isadjustable on the externally threaded rear end of the thinner shaftportion 17b. The nut abuts the rear end of hollow shaft 6 which isprovided with an enlarged interior portion 6 a, under the influence of acompression spring 21 inserted with pre-tension between said portion 6aand the annular shoulder between the shaft portions 17a and 17b.

The abutment or gauge plate 18 which in elevation is substantiallycrescent-shaped, is coupled at its upper end to swing arm 7 in anon-rotatable relationship, but is movable in the direction of axis 5.This is accomplished by means of a nose 7b provided on arm 7 and adaptedto be engaged in a groove 22 which is parallel to the axis of rotation 5and which is provided on the upper end of plate 18. Vice versa, thegroove could be provided on the swing arm, and the nose could beprovided on the abutment plate.

Arranged on the front side of plate 18 is a cast, substantially radialrib 18b which serves as a handle and of which the upper side is providedwith a plate 24 made of plastic.

Between cutting disk 13 and supporting frame 1 is disposed a driveconnection through which, when swing arm 7 is actuated, disk 13 isrotated about its own axis. Said drive connection comprises a link 26pivoted by a pin 25 to frame 1, a spring 42, a toothed segment 28pivoted by a pin 27 to arm 7 and further pivoted at 29 to link 26, and apinion 1'2 fixed to disk 13 and having teeth continuously meshing withthose of a toothed segment 28. Spring 42, which is made of steel wire,is mounted with a couple of turns on pin 25, is supported through ashort leg on frame portion 1; and is engaged through its long leg in ahole provided in link 26.

In the drawing, swing arm 7 with plate 18 connected thereto is shown inone of its terminal positions in which it abuts against a bumper 43 madeof rubber or the like and inserted in frame portion 1 From thisposition, the members 7 and .18 as a unit may be swung counterclockwise(FIG. 1) through about 55 by actuating the handle 18b, 24 until plate 18comes to rest on a bumper 44 inserted in frame portion 10. The exposedportion of knife edge 14, i.e. the portion which is not covered by arm7, moves in front of the space situated above platform 2, which space ispartly occupied by the object 4. Pin 27 on which toothed segment 28 isturnable travels with swing arm 7. Since one end portion of segment 28is connected to the supporting frame through link 26, the segment has toturn on pin 27. Such turning movement is transmitted through pin-ion ,12 to cutting disk 13 which, therefore, performs a movement of about oneand a third revolution in the sense of arrow A (FIG. 1) about itsbearing pin 10 when the members 7, 18 are swung counterclockwise through55 for the cutting stroke. When said members 7, 18 are swung back, thecutting disk 13 is turned back through the same angle. The actuating arm18b, 24 is moved downwardly during a cutting stroke and upwardly duringa return stroke, and not in a horizontal direction, which will assist inavoiding undesirable movements of the slicer on the table top.Furthermore, the force to be exerted on the actuating arm 18b, 24 forswinging same back is substantially reduced by spring 42 which tends toturn link 26 clockwise (FIG. 1) about pin 25, and the tension of whichis increased during downward cutting strokes.

- The objects 4 to be out are fed by hand towards the abutment face 19of plate 18. The operator actuates the arm 18b, 24 with his right handand at the same time puts the thumb of his left hand on web 3 while theother fingers of his left hand bear down directly on the rear end of thegoods or objects 4. As soon as only little is left of the goods, theoperator swings a slider 32 (which so far has not been used) away fromits rest position shown in FIG. 1 by dash-and-dot lines, about a bar 31which is parallel to the axis of rotation and is held retractable inprojections 1e of frame 1, the slider 32 being moved to the position ofuse shown in FIG. 1 by dash lines and in FIGS. 2 and 3 by solid lines.The operator may now urge the remainder of the goods towards theabutment face 19 by means of slider 32. In the position of use, slider32 rests on the upper edge of web 3 across its entire width.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a food slicer, in combination, a stationary supporting framehaving a platform having a cutting region for an object to be sliced; ahollow shaft rotatably mounted on said frame; a swing arm fixedlysecured to said hollow shaft; a cutting disc turnably mounted on saidswing arm; a pin passing through said hollow shaft in coaxialrelationship and being turnable and axially shiftable in the same, saidpin having one end portion projecting from said hollow shaft in theregion of said swing arm; a gauge plate fixedly secured to saidprojecting portion of said pin; manually operated means mounted on saidframe and located at the other end portion of said pin for axiallyshifting said pin in said hollow shaft for adjusting the distancebetween said gauge plate and said cutting disc; and connecting means forconnecting said gauge plate with said swing arm for turning movementabout said axis and for relative movement in axial direction so that theaxial spacing between asid disc and said guage plate can be adjusted ata point spaced from said cutting region, said swing arm, and saidcutting disk.

2. In a food slicer, in combination, a stationary supporting framehaving a platform having a cutting region arm and at the other end athinner threaded portion;

spring means located in said hollow shaft abutting the same and saidthicker portion of said pin for urging said pin to move in axialdirection out of said hollow shaft; and manually operated nut meansthreaded on said threaded portion and abutting said hollow shaft forlimiting movement of said pin under the action of said spring; a gaugeplate fixedly secured to said projecting portion of said pin so that thedistance between said gauge plate and said cutting disc can be adjustedby operation of said nut means; and connecting means for connecting saidgauge plate with said swing arm for turning movement about said axis andfor relative movement in axial direction so that the axial spacingbetween said disc and said gauge plate can be adjusted at a point spacedfrom said cutting region, said swing arm, and said cutting disk.

3. A food slicer as set forth in claim 2 and including a manuallyoperated member fixedly connected to said gauge plate so that byoperation of said manually operated member said gauge plate and saidswing arm with said cutting disc are moved toward said platform; anddrive means operatively connecting said cutting disc with said frame andoperated by movement of said swing arm relatiVe to said frame to effectrotation of said cutting disc during movement of said swing arm towardsaid platform.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS970,680 Burkhardt Sept. 20, 1910 2,119,660 Varley June 7, 1938 2,224,557Van Berkel Dec. 10, 1940 2,286,648 Rogers June 16, 1942 2,851,074 Talgeet al. Sept. 9, 1958 2,901,014 Coons et al. Aug. 25, 1959 FOREIGNPATENTS 17,581 Great Britain 1903

1. IN A FOOD SLICER, IN COMBINATION, A STATIONARY SUPPORTING FRAMEHAVING A PLATFORM HAVING A CUTTING REGION FOR AN OBJECT TO BE SLICED; AHOLLOW SHAFT ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON SAID FRAME; A SWING ARM FIXEDLYSECURED TO SAID HOLLOW SHAFT; A CUTTING DISC TURNABLY MOUNTED ON SAIDSWING ARM; A PIN PASSING THROUGH SAID HOLLOW SHAFT IN COAXIALRELATIONSHIP AND BEING TURNABLE AND AXIALLY SHIFTABLE IN THE SAME, SAIDPIN HAVING ONE END PORTION PROJECTING FROM SAID HOLLOW SHAFT IN THEREGION OF SAID SWING ARM; A GUAGE PLATE FIXEDLY SECURED TO SAIDPROJECTING PORTION OF SAID PIN; MANUALLY OPERATED MEANS MOUNTED ON SAIDFRAME AND LOCATED AT THE OTHER END PORTION OF SAID PIN FOR AXIALLYSHIFTING SAID PIN IN SAID HOLLOW SHAFT FOR ADJUSTING THE DISTANCEBETWEEN SAID GAUGE PLATE AND SAID CUTTING DISC; AND CONNECTING MEANS FORCONNECTING SAID GUAGE PLATE WITH SAID SWING ARM FOR TURNING MOVEMENTABOUT SAID AXIS AND FOR RELATIVE MOVEMENT IN AXIAL DIRECTION SO THAT THEAXIAL SPACING BETWEEN SAID DISC AND SAID GUAGE PLATE CAN BE ADJUSTED ATA POINT SPACED FROM SAID CUTTING REGION, SAID SWING ARM, AND SAIDCUTTING DISK.